| Michael Carliner Links Housing Economist |
 |  |  |  |  |
Census Bureau Housing and Demographic Data
A to Z Index
Construction Data (Permits, Starts, Sales, Value Put-In-Place, Prices)
Housing Data (Vacancies, Absorption, American Housing Survey)
American Community Survey Ongoing large-sample collection of population and housing data previously included in
decennial census long form.
Current Population Survey Monthly survey (with annual demographic supplement) used to produce unemployment rates,
household estimates, homeownership, migration, etc.
Historical Decennial Census (Reports from 1790 to 2010)
IPUMS from Minnesota Population Center provides Census Bureau microdata, including the ACS, CPS back to 1962, and
decennial censuses back to 1850! It's easier than raw data files, but not for the faint of heart.
Demographics (other than Census Bureau)
Dept of Homeland Security Immigration Statistics Note that DHS doesn’t count people based on when they arrive, but only
when they become classified as legal immigrants, etc.
National Center for Health Statistics-Vital Statistics Births, deaths, etc. with extensive detail. Marriage and divorce data are
there too, but since 1996 have been cut back and don’t include all states.
IRS Migration Data Address changes for taxpayers are a key input to Census population estimates. There is additional
detail, and caveats ignored by Census, here.
Population Reference Bureau Private non-profit
House Prices
FHFA House Price Index Repeat-sale national-state-metro quarterly (and some monthly) data based on GSE loan records
Freddie Mac House Price Index (FMHPI), Repeat-sales index using essentially same data, with slightly different
methodology, as FHFA
Case-Shiller Indices Repeat-sale, now managed by CoreLogic
National Association of Realtors Existing home median, average prices, also existing home sales (closings) and pending
home sales (contracts)
New Home Prices and Sales from Census Bureau. Hedonic price indices (adjusted for changes in new home
characteristics) are based on the same new home sales data.
Zillow.com Free online automated appraisals, and Home Value Index
Marshall and Swift Construction Cost Data (part of CoreLogic)
R.S. Means Construction Cost Data (part of Gordian)
Pulsenomics conducts a survey of economists' house price expectations , based on Zillow index
Housing Finance
CoreLogic has data based on public records and servicing portfolios regarding home sales, foreclosures, mortgage
activity, prices, etc, much of which is shown in public-available reports
Freddie Mac Economic Research, including weekly mortgage rate survey,
Fannie Mae economic analyses and survey reports
FHA Data from HUD include Single-Family Origination Trends, Monthly Production Report (including multifamily) and Loan
Performance Trends
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Industry Analysis
Federal Housing Finance Agency In addition to the house price indices (linked above) there are data from the
discontinued Monthly Interest Rate Survey and the nascent National Mortgage Database and measures of "underserved
areas"
Financial Accounts of the U.S. (aka Flow of Funds) data from Federal Reserve shows outstanding debt and home equity.
Note that household ownership of rental real estate is counted under nonfinancial noncorporate business, rather than in
household real estate assets and mortgage debt. The Federal Reserve also conducts a quarterly Senior Loan Officers
Opinion Survey that measures whether home mortgage lending (and other lending) is being tightened or loosened.
Mortgage Bankers Association Delinquency and other surveys, commentary, etc (some free).
Mortgage Metrics report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
RealtyTrac measures of foreclosure activity
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data are available from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Construction
National Association of Home Builders Economic and Housing Data, Analysis
Builder Magazine Online version of Hanley-Wood magazine for Builders.
Professional Builder, the other major trade magazine for builders
NIST (Dept of Commerce, Nat Inst of Standards and Technology) Construction Information, including fire issues.
Manufactured Housing Institute They prefer that you don't call them mobile homes.
Real Estate
National Association of Realtors tracks existing home sales, conducts surveys, etc. Its Institute of Real Estate
Management conducts surveys of rental property operating costs
National Multi Housing Council looks at apartment trends and tracks largest rental property owners and managers, but
access to most material restricted to members.
Building Materials
APA – Engineered Wood Association: OSB, I-joists, etc. (APA used to stand for American Plywood Association, until they
found that wasn’t the wave of the future.)
CME Lumber Futures Prices. This provides a signal of trends in lumber prices. Futures can be used to hedge against
risk, as explained in my 1994 article, if used prudently.
Portland Cement Association Economic Research
U.S. Forest Service, acts like wood supply is no longer of interest. Home page doesn't feature reports from Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) or from Forest Products Laboratory
U.S. Geological Survey – includes information on cement, aggregates, gypsum, copper, iron and steel.
Private Non-profits, Think Tanks, Advocates
American Enterprise Institute has data, some of which is unique, with a concentration on housing finance.
Brookings Institution Housing and Finance Page. They also have extensive information regarding demographics and
cities/regions
Urban Institute Housing and Housing Finance Page
Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University
National Low Income Housing Coalition produces various reports including periodic "Out of Reach" reports on affordability
and provides links to various state-level reports
National Housing Institute Left-of-center perspectives from New Jersey-based organization, including Shelterforce
publication
National Council of State Housing Agencies has information from their organization and others regarding housing subsidy
programs such as tax credits and tax-exempt bonds used to finance rental and owner housing.
National Housing Preservation Database tracks public and assisted housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation helps local non-profit developers
National Economic Data
President’s Council of Economic Advisors
Economic Indicators – Monthly Compendium prepared by Council of Economic Advisors for Joint Economic Committee
Bureau of Economic Analysis (Dept of Commerce) GDP and Other Data
BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Home Page - Employment, Prices, Wages
Unemployment Insurance Claims Dept of Labor, from a different office (not from BLS)
Federal Reserve Economic Research and Data – Industrial Production, Flow of Funds, Interest Rates
State and Local Data
Building permits for states, metros, counties, and 20,000 individual permit-issuing jurisdictions (about half of which report
monthly)
BLS State and County employment by industry from Quarterly “Census” of Employment and Wages, based mainly on
unemployment insurance records from state agencies.
County Business Patterns Establishments and employees by industry. Industry classifications are probably more
consistent across states than alternative data from BLS. Some data are available by zip code.
Library of Congress Links to state and local governments
State Data Centers connected to U.S. Census Bureau
Association for University Business and Economic Researchers Look for links under "Member Search"
State Energy Data System from Department of Energy
National Center for Education Statistics Data on enrollment, etc.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics Includes information on transit, commuting and other household travel
See also links under prices, demographics, etc.
International
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
United Nations Statistics Division
CIA World Factbook
IMF International Monetary Fund - their "World Economic Outlook" is particularly notable and free
Bank for International Settlements includes various studies and data related to banking, housing finance, and housing,
including property prices for some countries
Global Property Guide – Surprisingly good portal to house price data
European Mortgage Federation produces annual Hypostat report on housing and mortgage markets in Europe
Housing Europe European public, cooperative and social housing
Meta Sites
Resources for Economists (sponsored by American Economics Assn)
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) Links for other sources for economists
AREUEA (American Real Estate and Urban Economics Assn) Links
Data.gov A site "to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch
of the Federal Government." Another useful site is the Federal Digital System from the Government Printing Office, with
links to various government publication such as the Federal Register and Congressional Record
Miscellaneous
Fed In Print - Search engine maintained by FRB San Francisco monitors reports from throughout Federal Reserve system
Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) from Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, has historical
documents and data, not limited to Fed reports.
HUDUSER Portal to all data, research, publications from HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
A to Z Index
Construction Data (Permits, Starts, Sales, Value Put-In-Place, Prices)
Housing Data (Vacancies, Absorption, American Housing Survey)
American Community Survey Ongoing large-sample collection of population and housing data previously included in
decennial census long form.
Current Population Survey Monthly survey (with annual demographic supplement) used to produce unemployment rates,
household estimates, homeownership, migration, etc.
Historical Decennial Census (Reports from 1790 to 2010)
IPUMS from Minnesota Population Center provides Census Bureau microdata, including the ACS, CPS back to 1962, and
decennial censuses back to 1850! It's easier than raw data files, but not for the faint of heart.
Demographics (other than Census Bureau)
Dept of Homeland Security Immigration Statistics Note that DHS doesn’t count people based on when they arrive, but only
when they become classified as legal immigrants, etc.
National Center for Health Statistics-Vital Statistics Births, deaths, etc. with extensive detail. Marriage and divorce data are
there too, but since 1996 have been cut back and don’t include all states.
IRS Migration Data Address changes for taxpayers are a key input to Census population estimates. There is additional
detail, and caveats ignored by Census, here.
Population Reference Bureau Private non-profit
House Prices
FHFA House Price Index Repeat-sale national-state-metro quarterly (and some monthly) data based on GSE loan records
Freddie Mac House Price Index (FMHPI), Repeat-sales index using essentially same data, with slightly different
methodology, as FHFA
Case-Shiller Indices Repeat-sale, now managed by CoreLogic
National Association of Realtors Existing home median, average prices, also existing home sales (closings) and pending
home sales (contracts)
New Home Prices and Sales from Census Bureau. Hedonic price indices (adjusted for changes in new home
characteristics) are based on the same new home sales data.
Zillow.com Free online automated appraisals, and Home Value Index
Marshall and Swift Construction Cost Data (part of CoreLogic)
R.S. Means Construction Cost Data (part of Gordian)
Pulsenomics conducts a survey of economists' house price expectations , based on Zillow index
Housing Finance
CoreLogic has data based on public records and servicing portfolios regarding home sales, foreclosures, mortgage
activity, prices, etc, much of which is shown in public-available reports
Freddie Mac Economic Research, including weekly mortgage rate survey,
Fannie Mae economic analyses and survey reports
FHA Data from HUD include Single-Family Origination Trends, Monthly Production Report (including multifamily) and Loan
Performance Trends
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Industry Analysis
Federal Housing Finance Agency In addition to the house price indices (linked above) there are data from the
discontinued Monthly Interest Rate Survey and the nascent National Mortgage Database and measures of "underserved
areas"
Financial Accounts of the U.S. (aka Flow of Funds) data from Federal Reserve shows outstanding debt and home equity.
Note that household ownership of rental real estate is counted under nonfinancial noncorporate business, rather than in
household real estate assets and mortgage debt. The Federal Reserve also conducts a quarterly Senior Loan Officers
Opinion Survey that measures whether home mortgage lending (and other lending) is being tightened or loosened.
Mortgage Bankers Association Delinquency and other surveys, commentary, etc (some free).
Mortgage Metrics report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
RealtyTrac measures of foreclosure activity
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data are available from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Construction
National Association of Home Builders Economic and Housing Data, Analysis
Builder Magazine Online version of Hanley-Wood magazine for Builders.
Professional Builder, the other major trade magazine for builders
NIST (Dept of Commerce, Nat Inst of Standards and Technology) Construction Information, including fire issues.
Manufactured Housing Institute They prefer that you don't call them mobile homes.
Real Estate
National Association of Realtors tracks existing home sales, conducts surveys, etc. Its Institute of Real Estate
Management conducts surveys of rental property operating costs
National Multi Housing Council looks at apartment trends and tracks largest rental property owners and managers, but
access to most material restricted to members.
Building Materials
APA – Engineered Wood Association: OSB, I-joists, etc. (APA used to stand for American Plywood Association, until they
found that wasn’t the wave of the future.)
CME Lumber Futures Prices. This provides a signal of trends in lumber prices. Futures can be used to hedge against
risk, as explained in my 1994 article, if used prudently.
Portland Cement Association Economic Research
U.S. Forest Service, acts like wood supply is no longer of interest. Home page doesn't feature reports from Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) or from Forest Products Laboratory
U.S. Geological Survey – includes information on cement, aggregates, gypsum, copper, iron and steel.
Private Non-profits, Think Tanks, Advocates
American Enterprise Institute has data, some of which is unique, with a concentration on housing finance.
Brookings Institution Housing and Finance Page. They also have extensive information regarding demographics and
cities/regions
Urban Institute Housing and Housing Finance Page
Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University
National Low Income Housing Coalition produces various reports including periodic "Out of Reach" reports on affordability
and provides links to various state-level reports
National Housing Institute Left-of-center perspectives from New Jersey-based organization, including Shelterforce
publication
National Council of State Housing Agencies has information from their organization and others regarding housing subsidy
programs such as tax credits and tax-exempt bonds used to finance rental and owner housing.
National Housing Preservation Database tracks public and assisted housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation helps local non-profit developers
National Economic Data
President’s Council of Economic Advisors
Economic Indicators – Monthly Compendium prepared by Council of Economic Advisors for Joint Economic Committee
Bureau of Economic Analysis (Dept of Commerce) GDP and Other Data
BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Home Page - Employment, Prices, Wages
Unemployment Insurance Claims Dept of Labor, from a different office (not from BLS)
Federal Reserve Economic Research and Data – Industrial Production, Flow of Funds, Interest Rates
State and Local Data
Building permits for states, metros, counties, and 20,000 individual permit-issuing jurisdictions (about half of which report
monthly)
BLS State and County employment by industry from Quarterly “Census” of Employment and Wages, based mainly on
unemployment insurance records from state agencies.
County Business Patterns Establishments and employees by industry. Industry classifications are probably more
consistent across states than alternative data from BLS. Some data are available by zip code.
Library of Congress Links to state and local governments
State Data Centers connected to U.S. Census Bureau
Association for University Business and Economic Researchers Look for links under "Member Search"
State Energy Data System from Department of Energy
National Center for Education Statistics Data on enrollment, etc.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics Includes information on transit, commuting and other household travel
See also links under prices, demographics, etc.
International
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
United Nations Statistics Division
CIA World Factbook
IMF International Monetary Fund - their "World Economic Outlook" is particularly notable and free
Bank for International Settlements includes various studies and data related to banking, housing finance, and housing,
including property prices for some countries
Global Property Guide – Surprisingly good portal to house price data
European Mortgage Federation produces annual Hypostat report on housing and mortgage markets in Europe
Housing Europe European public, cooperative and social housing
Meta Sites
Resources for Economists (sponsored by American Economics Assn)
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) Links for other sources for economists
AREUEA (American Real Estate and Urban Economics Assn) Links
Data.gov A site "to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch
of the Federal Government." Another useful site is the Federal Digital System from the Government Printing Office, with
links to various government publication such as the Federal Register and Congressional Record
Miscellaneous
Fed In Print - Search engine maintained by FRB San Francisco monitors reports from throughout Federal Reserve system
Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) from Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, has historical
documents and data, not limited to Fed reports.
HUDUSER Portal to all data, research, publications from HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
michael@michaelcarliner.com
240-899-0310